White House stops publishing immigration list that included 5 Kansas counties

The White House has stopped publishing a list that singled out more than 100 local jurisdictions for not supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including five in Kansas. The Trump administration had received complaints from cities and counties on the list that its information was not accurate.

“ICE remains committed to publishing the most accurate information available regarding declined detainers across the country and continues to analyze and refine its reporting methodologies,” according to a statement released by ICE. “While this analysis is ongoing, the publication of the Declined Detainer Outcome Report (DDOR) will be temporarily suspended.”

The list included five Kansas counties: Harvey, Butler, Shawnee, Sedgwick and Finney.

According to the White House list, these five counties would not hold someone suspected of being in the country illegally without a warrant or court order.

Sedgwick County should not have been included on the list, according to Sheriff Jeff Easter. Sedgwick County recently changed its policy to honor requests to hold suspected immigration violators when presented with an I-200 form.

Easter said that ICE’s erroneous information likely came from the Center for Immigration Studies. “We’ve never agreed with the immigration studies listing,” Easter said. “There is no law saying what a sanctuary county or city is; there is nothing.”

Butler County has tried in the past to get its name removed from these lists as well, according to Tony Wilhite, undersheriff for Butler County. He said that while it is true that Butler won’t hold someone without a warrant or court order, this is the law in Kansas.

“How would you like to be held in jail without a court order or warrant?” Wilhite said. “They’ve had people held in jail accused of being an illegal alien, no probably cause, no warrant, no court order. Two days later it was discovered they were a U.S. citizen.”

This is the same way Butler County would treat anyone suspected of a crime, Wilhite said.

“If I go out and arrest a guy walking down the street and take him to jail, the jail is going to ask me, what are the charges? Do I have warrant? Do I have probable cause,” Wilhite said. “And if I say, ‘not really, why don’t you give me a couple of days to figure something out,’ you can’t do that.”

Wilhite said the lists, like the one that included Butler County, were “something that has been made up by others to inflame people, but there’s nothing to it.”

Although Butler County officials have complained about being included on previous lists, Wilhite said Butler wasn’t one of the counties that had complained this time. “Why complain about something when you know what the truth is?” Wilhite said. “I don’t get worked up about stuff, especially if I know I’m doing it right.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 3:34 PM with the headline "White House stops publishing immigration list that included 5 Kansas counties."